NEVER Openweight Championship

NEVER Openweight Championship

The NEVER Openweight Championship belt
(October 2012 — present)
Details
Promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling
Date established October 5, 2012[1][2]
Current champion(s) Minoru Suzuki
Date won April 27, 2017[3]

The NEVER Openweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. NEVER is an acronym of the terms "New Blood", "Evolution", "Valiantly", "Eternal", and "Radical" and was a NJPW-promoted series of events, which featured younger up-and-coming talent and outside wrestlers not signed to the promotion.[1][9] The project was officially announced on July 12, 2010,[9] and held its first event on August 24, 2010.[10] On October 5, 2012, NJPW announced that NEVER was going to get its own championship, the NEVER Openweight Championship, the promotion's sixth active title.[1][2]

The title was originally scheduled to be defended exclusively at NEVER events, but this plan was quickly changed and since its foundation, the title has been defended on the undercards of NJPW events.[2][11] The original concept of having younger workers wrestle for the title has also not been realized with the first seven holders of the title having been in their thirties or forties.[12][13] Instead, through the likes of Katsuyori Shibata, Togi Makabe, and Tomohiro Ishii, the NEVER Openweight Championship became known for its "gritty" title matches.[14] Though named an "openweight" championship, NJPW has also categorized the title as one of the promotion's four heavyweight titles, alongside the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, and the IWGP Tag Team Championship.[15][16] Together, the NEVER Openweight, IWGP Heavyweight, and IWGP Intercontinental Championships also form what has unofficially been called the "New Japan Triple Crown" (新日本トリプルクラウン, Shin Nihon Toripuru Kuraun).[17] The title's openweight nature means that both heavyweight and junior heavyweight wrestlers are eligible to challenge for it.[18]

Like most professional wrestling championships, the title is won as a result of a match with a predetermined outcome. There have been sixteen reigns shared among ten wrestlers. Minoru Suzuki is the current champion in his first reign.[3]

History

Championship tournament

On October 5, 2012, over two years after the founding of NEVER, New Japan Pro-Wrestling announced the creation of the project's first championship, the NEVER Openweight Championship.[1][2][19] The title was originally created with the idea of using it to "elevate younger wrestlers".[20] The first champion was to be determined in a sixteen-man single-elimination tournament, which was set to take place November 15 and 19, 2012.[21][22] The title and the tournament were announced by New Japan president Naoki Sugabayashi and NEVER regular Tetsuya Naito,[2][19] who was scheduled to enter the tournament, but was forced to pull out after suffering a knee injury.[11] Much like regular NEVER events, the tournament also featured wrestlers not signed to New Japan; freelancer Daisuke Sasaki, Hiro Tonai, Kengo Mashimo, Ryuichi Sekine, Shiori Asahi and Taishi Takizawa from Kaientai Dojo, and Masato Tanaka from Pro Wrestling Zero1.[21][22] The entire first round of the tournament took place on November 15 and saw Shiori Asahi, Yoshi-Hashi, Taishi Takizawa, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tomohiro Ishii, Kengo Mashimo, Karl Anderson and Masato Tanaka advance.[23][24] The rest of the tournament took place four days later. During the second round, Kengo Mashimo defeated Ryusuke Taguchi, Karl Anderson defeated Shiori Asahi, Masato Tanaka defeated Taishi Takizawa, Tomohiro Ishii defeated Yoshi-Hashi.[4][25] The semifinals saw Anderson defeat Mashimo and Tanaka defeat Ishii.[4][25] In the finals of the tournament, Tanaka, the 39-year-old, who, despite officially being affiliated with Pro Wrestling Zero1, had worked for NJPW regularly since August 2009, defeated Anderson to become the inaugural NEVER Openweight Champion.[4][25][26][27] Though the title was originally designed to be defended at NEVER events, NJPW has not held a single NEVER event since the championship tournament.[20]

First round
(November 15) 		Second round
(November 19) 		Semifinals
(November 19) 		Finals
(November 19)
        
Karl Anderson Pin
Yujiro Takahashi 11:12[23]
Karl Anderson Pin
Shiori Asahi 03:59[4]
Hiromu Takahashi Pin
Shiori Asahi 06:14[23]
Karl Anderson Pin
Kengo Mashimo 06:14[4]
Ryusuke Taguchi Pin
Hiro Tonai 08:19[23]
Ryusuke Taguchi Sub
Kengo Mashimo 07:54[4]
Bushi Pin
Kengo Mashimo 08:02[23]
Karl Anderson Pin
Masato Tanaka 15:12[4]
Kushida Pin
Masato Tanaka 13:02[23]
Masato Tanaka Pin
Taishi Takizawa 04:28[4]
Captain New Japan Pin
Taishi Takizawa 07:22[23]
Masato Tanaka Pin
Tomohiro Ishii 10:47[4]
Tomohiro Ishii Pin
Daisuke Sasaki 08:39[23]
Tomohiro Ishii Pin
Yoshi-Hashi 06:57[4]
Yoshi-Hashi Pin
Ryuichi Sekine 07:14[23]

Reigns

There have been sixteen reigns shared among ten wrestlers with one vacancy. Masato Tanaka was the first champion in the title's history.[4] He also holds the record for the longest reign in the title's history, at 314 days. Evil's only reign of 10 days is the shortest in the title's history. Tomohiro Ishii holds the record for most reigns with the title, being a four-time champion. Minoru Suzuki is the current champion in his first reign, having defeated Hirooki Goto for the title on April 27, 2017, at Road to Wrestling Dontaku 2017.[3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Caldwell, James (October 5, 2012). "News items: Velvet Sky launches clothing line, Details on Nash's next int'l tour, NJPW introducing new title". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved October 27, 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 あの『NEVER』がリニューアル!! "無差別級王座"も新設!! 11.15＆11.19Shibuya AXで再出発!!. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). October 5, 2012. Archived from the original on October 8, 2012. Retrieved October 27, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 Road to レスリングどんたく 2017 ～安芸の国 戦国絵巻～. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 東京・Shibuya-AX　～初代NEVER無差別級王座決定トーナメント Final～. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on November 22, 2012. Retrieved November 19, 2012.
  5. ↑ 鈴木 みのる. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on December 26, 2016. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  6. ↑ 渡辺 高章. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on October 16, 2015. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
  7. ↑ 真壁 刀義. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 4, 2015. Retrieved January 4, 2015.
  8. ↑ 田中 将斗. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on February 3, 2013. Retrieved February 3, 2013.
  9. 1 2 Nextジェネレーション育成 新プロジェクト「NEVER」シリーズがスタート!!. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). July 12, 2010. Archived from the original on December 28, 2010. Retrieved October 27, 2012.
  10. ↑ "NEVER．1". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on December 28, 2010. Retrieved October 27, 2012.
  11. 1 2 復帰の内藤 標的はＮＥＶＥＲ王座. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). May 24, 2013. Retrieved May 24, 2013.
  12. ↑ 石井の野望「ＮＥＶＥＲ王座のブランド化」. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). February 28, 2014. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  13. ↑ Ｖ２柴田がＮＥＶＥＲ王座の改名を予告. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). March 20, 2016. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  14. ↑ Andrews, R.W. (January 27, 2017). "New Japan Feud Focus: Tracking the key matches in the Tomohiro Ishii vs. Togi Makable rivalry from Wrestle Kingdom 9 to". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
  15. ↑ "Kizuna Road 2014". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on June 29, 2014. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
  16. ↑ 裕二郎がＮＥＶＥＲ王座強奪！バレットクラブが新日のヘビー級全王座独占. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). June 30, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  17. ↑ 真壁 ＩＣ王座に照準の真意. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). February 29, 2016. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  18. ↑ 飯伏が狙う新日ジュニア版“３冠戦”. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). May 15, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
  19. 1 2 新日若手興行ＮＥＶＥＲで王座決定戦開催. Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). October 5, 2012. Retrieved October 27, 2012.
  20. 1 2 内藤「俺の使命はＮＥＶＥＲ復権」. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). October 3, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  21. 1 2 11月15日＆19日『NEVER』無差別級トーナメント決定！ 初日にKushidavs田中将斗！ 新人2人もデビュー!!. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). October 11, 2012. Archived from the original on October 14, 2012. Retrieved October 27, 2012.
  22. 1 2 新日ＮＥＶＥＲトーナメント出場者発表. Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). October 11, 2012. Retrieved October 27, 2012.
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 東京・Shibuya-Ax　～初代NEVER無差別級王座決定トーナメント 1st Round～. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on November 19, 2012. Retrieved November 15, 2012.
  24. ↑ 2012年11月15日（木）NEVER～初代NEVER無差別級王座決定トーナメント1st Round～(東京・Shibuya-Ax). Kaientai Dojo (in Japanese). Retrieved December 24, 2012.
  25. 1 2 3 2012年11月19日（月）NEVER～初代NEVER無差別級王座決定トーナメント Final～(東京・Shibuya-Ax). Kaientai Dojo (in Japanese). Retrieved December 24, 2012.
  26. ↑ 将斗　死闘を制して初代王座／新日本. Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). November 20, 2012. Retrieved November 23, 2012.
  27. ↑ ＮＥＶＥＲ初代王者・将斗１・４でＷヘッダーだ. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). November 23, 2012. Retrieved November 23, 2012.
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